Endwalker is pretty great

[Myon88]

I'd hate for SE to come away from these forums with the wrong impression, so I'm going to do something pretty rare and illustrate why this expansion has been a major success.

• The two Endwalker ultimates stand as the greatest ones to date
  Even if this were literally the only thing I mentioned, it would be enough. If you do any serious raiding at all there's no question about this. Both DSR and TOP managed to successively raise the bar for ultimates. It would've been one thing if they were just difficult fights for difficulty's sake, but they artfully built on their source narratives as well. We got a very intriguing Heavensward AU, as well as further insight into the Omega raid story in light of Endwalker developments.
  
  The ultimates being of this quality have largely contributed to the high end raiding crowd being willing to bite their tongue on stuff they aren't as happy about - 2min homogenization and the like. And that notwithstanding, TOP in particular seems to have been designed with a lot of knowing and cheeky nuances that repudiate the supposed '2min meta' too.

• The portrait system is super fun
  I don't know about you guys but I think glamour and g-posing are some of the most important pieces of content this game has. It is the one edge that FFXIV has over its more visceral peers like WoW, and it's important for it to cultivate that edge.
  
  Through the power of a nice looking portrait, its also ushered in an era of DPS players getting comms that were previously monopolized by the tanks and healers.

• Crystalline Conflict has been a massive improvement over The Feast
  On my datacenter, queues for casual matches are consistently <5mins starting from the mid-afternoon to past midnight. This would be an inconceivable level of engagement for The Feast back when it existed. By any metric you can name, the PvP rework has been a success.
  
  I know some Feast vets are glum about its slower, more strategic gameplay being replaced, but let me remind you that Lord of Verminion still exists. The Feast wasn't even the most competitive PvP activity in it's own game. Despite this, its playerbase was pampered with dozens of exclusive mounts and outfits over its lifespan. After a run like that, surely you can find it in yourselves to be gracious about passing the torch to CC.
  
  PvP is evergreen content and infinitely replayable due to the human element involved. It's very important to get right as a result, and I'm glad their efforts paid off this time.

• Side Content
  Orthos and Island Sanctuary I consider equivalent to the past expansions' equivalents in Bozja and the like. It largely comes down to a matter of taste as to which one strikes your fancy.
  
  It's worth noting that something very interesting is going to be happening on islands next patch - it's getting an outdoor furnishing quota of 80 items. Even large mansions only have a 40 item limit, as a result, outdoor housing builds have never received particularly strong interest from housing enthusiasts. A quota of 80 will enable builds that dwarf in scope anything that has been possible up to this date. For housing designers, this is going to be an earthshaking addition.

• Endwalker's Story
  Not much left to say that hasn't already been said. Endwalker's MSQ put a very neat bow on the story so far, with highs only rivaled by Shadowbringers. WoW tried similarly to frame Shadowlands as the end of an era, and they failed miserably. Destiny 2 is currently trying to do the same, and it's looking like they'll soon follow in WoW's footsteps. It's difficult to overstate what a coup this has been.